I won’t bore you with what you already know and what has already been said. Women are at a disadvantage in preparing for their financial independence because they generally make less money than men, interrupt their careers to take care of children and parents and, in general, enjoy longer life spans. If they are widowed, they often face a sharp decline in income when their spouse dies. If divorced, they find themselves fighting to make up for the resources they didn’t accumulate for all the same reasons mentioned above. For GenXers, those born between 1961-1981, half of those found at risk of not having enough money for retirement were single women. About 57% of Millennials, whose average age is now 28.5, are single.

After a long and brutal U.S. Presidential election campaign, Donald Trump has emerged victorious. Equally important, the Republican party retained control of the U.S. Senate while also retaining a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives.

For a large number of Americans and the international community who were anticipating a Clinton victory this was a significant blow. In the wake of their disappointment we saw international stocks, currencies and commodities fall while treasuries rose. Investor reaction was to take a risk off posture and liquidate stocks in a flight to purchasing treasuries. Wise investors won't react so quickly.

This past weekend I was participating in an advanced sailing class where we were learning how to raise a spinnaker, those colorful pluming sails that completely surround the front of the sailboat. We were in Boston Harbor, where sailing can be challenging with the wind blocked or redirected by buildings and freighters. But today it was Mother Nature who wasn't cooperating.

Now raising a spinnaker for the first time feels complicated. It has many more sheets and lines, requires care in exactly where they are placed and has its own private boom. Even releasing the spinnaker is a controlled, planned process. Our instructor was barking orders to the four of us in our respective tasks but our helmsman was missing his cues. As the wind shifted abruptly, things began to quickly spin out of control. The sail burned through our instructors fingers and nearly completely off the boat while our boom swung in an accidental jibe, fortunately just as I ducked into the deck below. But our helmsman wasn't so lucky taking in on the head and requiring a few stitches.

Do you know who is on the other end of that email address? It might not be as apparent as you think. Can you be sure someone isn’t watching every move you make on your computer? You can’t see them, but they can see every keystroke. We are all under the constant threat of a cyber-assault. Are you protected?

The number of people that access their financial accounts online has nearly doubled in the last couple of years. So, it isn’t surprising that the number of cyber-thieves and online “fraudsters” has also increased. They’re after your money and they are relentless in pursuing any and all technological means to get it. Because their point of entry is your computer, you are really the last line of defense in preventing an assault that could rob you of your identity and your money. The first step of prevention is to know how they can get to you.

In the good old days thieves just went after the green. Nowadays they’re after your credit card information. Why? Because, it’s easier to steal your credit card information than your money. Each day, billions of credit card transactions with each use being a potential opportunity for a thief to abscond with an account number. But, contrary to popular belief, most credit card information thefts don’t occur through online transactions, rather through physical theft, such as retrieving receipts or bills from garbage cans or open cars. In any case, your credit card information is a top target of relentless identity thieves as evidenced by the millions of people who have theirs stolen each year. Just by taking a few extra measures in your daily activities, your credit card information can be kept safe and secure.

Shred it
These days, most credit card receipts don’t show the complete account number, but a quick glance to be sure is always prudent. If your receipt does show your complete account number it should be immediately placed in a secure location until such time that you can reconcile your bill later. At that point, both your receipts and your bills should be shredded. More people are moving towards paperless billing, so there is no need to receive a physical bill in the mail. Any document that includes your credit card account number or social security number should be shredded along with any application for credit.

In many respects, people can be their own worst enemies in their quest for financial security. When you consider that our lives are nothing more than a culmination of the decisions we make each day, if we tend to make more bad decisions than good decisions, or worse, if we can’t make decisions at all, it’s should be no surprise when financial security remains elusive.

When it comes to finances and investment decisions, many people are not wired to be able to make decisions dispassionately, without emotions clouding their reasoning; and that’s when people tend to make the most behavioral mistakes with their financial decisions. Understanding these behavioral mistakes and how to avoid them is crucial to achieving financial security.

With the holiday season looming, it’s not too soon to do your year-end tax planning. One of the consequences of achieving financial success is that, what was once a relatively straightforward tax return increasingly becomes more involved as more tax issues come into the picture. You may have more things to track, forms to file, and you also may also experience bracket creep which can suddenly change the way you manage your taxes and finances.

Waiting until tax filing time to deal with these issues could be hazardous to your wealth. As your finances improve, it would be important to become more knowledgeable about your taxes to avoid any surprises.

Most of us live here in New England because we love the change of seasons. It's always bittersweet when we bundle up for those last few trips to our farmer's markets, become tourists ourselves of the spectacularly colorful transformations of our hillsides, and finally wait for that first snowfall. Our farmer friends are in the process of gathering their final crops and putting their fields to bed. We too should be considering our own harvest...... tax loss that is.

Whether you manage your own portfolio or have a financial advisor, you know that every investment you pick is not going to be a winner. Companies disappoint, economies disappoint, stocks and funds go up and down in the process. When your funds are done, what can you do about it?

While the new Republican tax legislation is called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) there will be no tax cuts for folks divorcing in 2018 and the message is hurry up!

What is new in the TCJA?

Before the new legislation, divorces that included alimony, income payments from one spouse to another, were tax deductible to the person paying the alimony and taxable to the recipient. Under the new legislation this deduction is eliminated and the payment to the soon to be ex spouse is no longer taxable. why hurry? Only agreements signed and approved by December 31, 2018 will retain the old tax characterization.

Divorce is so complicated that the decisions regarding college planning are often left unaddressed causing disagreements when they do have to be made. Most divorce agreements have a plan as to how to divide other assets that have been accumulated during the marriage, the family home, cars, collectibles, joint bank accounts, retirement and brokerage accounts but when it comes to other savings, such as college savings or 529 plans, often the agreements are too vague. Couples operate from assumptions, such as the parent who established the account controls it, and absent any other agreement that will be true. But we all have suffered the consequences of operating under the wrong assumptions, and for divorcing families, when they make assumptions, the mistakes they make often mean they pay more for college education than is necessary.

For example, during divorce most accounts are divided but that does not have to be the case for college savings or 529 plans. In fact the division of these accounts may either overcomplicate things or serve failing purposes. There is much more to consider in dealing with educational funding accounts than a simple division of assets.

I recently read a good article of “moving on after the storm of divorce” by paying proper attention to post divorce details in order to preserve the settlement agreement. Some suggestions included preparing a post divorce budget, reviewing insurances including life, health, property casualty, and considering taxes.

While I absolutely agree that any of these items can derail an agreement if not duly considered, I disagree that attention to these details should be done post divorce. I personally recommend that all these items be considered while hammering out the agreement.

We all know that the accumulation of data and information pre-divorce can be time consuming, complex and overwhelming. The court requirements generally have us looking backwards to past real estate values, previous investment and retirement account statements, previous tax returns and old budgets. But when you think about it, none of this information will be relevant to either party post divorce. One party will own the real estate and all costs and liabilities attached to it. One party will retain some of the investment and retirement accounts and the other will have the balance. No ones budget will be the same. Many insurance premiums will change, health insurance requiring changes, life insurance now deemed not necessarily needed or adequate, and property casualty insurances that will be the sole responsibility of one or the other. And income taxes certainly change with regard to filing status, sharing of gains, losses and deductions.

For all these reasons I counsel all clients to look at the implications of various settlement considerations from primarily a post divorce view. What their budget is to day is not nearly as important as what it will be post divorce. How will divorce affect their health insurance costs? What will it feel like to pay the property taxes by themselves? What are the additional income taxes and how does that affect my paycheck gong home? All these are vital considerations in understanding if a settlement is even “affordable” to all.

Good divorce counseling should include both legal and financial consulting with the attorney focused on the legal issues and a financial advisor demonstrating alternative settlements as they will impact each party financially. The best settlement is one with no surprises!

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SJ Boyle Wealth Planning, LLC is a registered investment advisor in the state of New Hampshire. We work as a personal financial advisor to families in Hanover New Hampshire and all of New England helping them coordinate every aspect of their financial affairs including their educational, investment, retirement and estate planning. As a Registered Investment Advisor we work in a fiduciary capacity serving their best interests first!

Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.